My Hope. My Faith.

My acting career is advancing slowly (very slowly), but I think surely. I do not have an agent yet and I have not been in any productions as of recently, but I am taking a mini step back. I think I'll focus on training for a little bit.

A lot of people think that acting is a piece of cake and that anybody can do it. Well, I suppose I agree that anybody can do it, but not everybody can do it well. When people hear that I'm taking classes, they ask, "haven't you had enough of school? Why not just go out there and do it?" Would you tell an aspiring doctor to "go out and do it" after his first year of medical school? If you would, that's kinda weird, but come on.

I was searching online for good places to train and at the time, I was specifically looking for something that will help me with my acting business plan (more on that later). As a result, I discovered The Actor's Foundry. The first class that I attended was the Business of Acting Q&A with Matthew Harrison. Immediately, I was hooked. As a teacher, Harrison is incredible and I found that out after three hours of business teaching! As a man, he is also great because he truly cares for his actors and wants to help them with their careers in any way he can. A big thing he teaches is that we as actors need to support each other and not compete. Those who compete will not make it far.

Anyway, the school offers a chance to audit classes for free. In fact, they encourage it. As many as you can and on any day. So, I have taken advantage of that and have been auditing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I am also taking a class on Sundays with Jeb Beach, another teacher at The Foundry. I had my first class this last Sunday, and let me tell you, without even knowing me, Jeb has chosen a scene that is bound to stretch me as an actor.

I'm scared. And excited. At the same time.

The scene is from Sleepless in Seattle. And I have to cry. Those who know me, know that I do not cry too often. At all. And next Sunday is emotional preparation week. Like I said. I'm scared.

Randomness about me and The Actor's Foundry:

1. Found out that Matthew Harrison was in "Night at the Museum" and "Romeo Must Die." I was an extra in both.
2. Found out that Matthew Harrison's wife, Michelle Harrison was in "Paycheck" and "The Invisible." I was an extra in both as well.
3. Matthew Harrison is connected with TWU (my uni) in that he created a four and a half hour acting documentary directed by one of my professors, Ned Vankevich. He has also guest taught at the university, although not when I was attending. Sadly.

I'll keep you posted.

So, the agent that I went to see last week... Yeh, well she said no. Well, she said:

First things first. I had two different casting things in the last two days. Well, the first one was a meeting with an agent, as I wrote in my last post. That was yesterday. I believe it went well, although I am not sure if she will represent me yet or not. The one thing that will probably prove to hinder me in this search for an agent is my lack of experience. She assured me that I would have to go slow, probably start in commercials first. And I would be sent to smaller roles initially and all that stuff. That's fine with me. Oh, and she also said that I have the look of early 30s. I could probably pass for late 20s, but definitely early 30s. Hmmmm... I did not know that I looked that old. Not to say 30 is old, but.... well, I was unaware. :) She said she'll get back to me by early next week.

Ok, the second is what I blew. It was a diversity open casting call for NBC. (you can find the write up here). Basically, talent reps from NBC came here to look for news faces, primarily to add to their roster for the shows filmed here (ex. Battlestar Galactica, Psych, Eureka). It is not a for sure thing, but they just wanted to see different people. Well, I am usually good at interviews. I study and make sure I cover every question that could possibly be asked. I research on the internet about what to expect and all that. Well, what happened is that she asked me to tell her about my last role. I completely blanked. BLANKED! I knew it was Arthur Miller, but forgot which one of the four it was. She was holding my resume. I had to reach over to look at it. I think that, coupled with my lack of experience, made me look like this immature amateur who just wants to be a famous actress. Or something.

And that is definitely not me.

Annnnnyway, she gave me a smile and said, thanks for coming. We'll keep you headshot on file. Yeah, right. That means, thanks for coming. You suck. We're throwing your headshot away.

Others got a call back to do a cold read. I didn't.

But I'm ok with that. It's a learning experience. I will have other chances. I will just chalk this up to ignorance and add it to my list of things to expect:

Know and remember your past experiences to T!

Got it.

**NOTE: I know the picture really has nothing to do with anything. But sadness. But that's what I was going for. And isn't Matty just so cute??